Anthony S. Bryk & Barbara Schneider
Russell Sage Foundation, August 2002
In the midst of the seemingly endless school reform debate, this important book
goes back to basics, demonstrating that education is a human enterprise. Bryk
& Schneider used the unique opportunity of the 1988 restructuring of Chicago
public schools to study the relationships between administrators, parents and
teachers in a number of schools and to study how those relationships affected
school reform. Their research proves that relational trust is necessary to well-functioning
schools.
In modern institutions, "contractual trust" is the norm.
"A contract defines basic actions to be taken by the parties involved. The terms
of the contract explicitly spell out a scope of work to be undertaken or a product
or service to be delivered. As a result, it is relatively easy to ascertain whether
the parties have acted in accordance with agreed upon terms. If one party fails
to uphold the contractual agreement, legal actions can be taken by the aggrieved
party to seek redress."
Bryk & Schneider explain why this pervasive form of modern social interaction
is uniquely unsuited to schools, and discuss the policy implications of their
findings for school reform.
Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement